The Philadelphia 76ers (23-10) started off 2024 with a rematch against the Chicago Bulls (15-20). The Sixers launched themselves to a massive lead and secured the win by a final score of 110-97.

Let's break down the Sixers' first game of 2024.

Sixers player notes:

Joel Embiid: 31 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 blocks, 10-20 FG shooting

Back in action after missing the last four games, Embiid approached triple-double watch in the first quarter by fueling the Sixers' three-point-shooting onslaught. His presence on the boards and on defense was felt immediately, too, and he tallied a stat line of 22-8-6 by halftime while shooting 9-14 from the field.

Despite some foul trouble, Embiid was impressively sharp in his first game in a week and a half. Stick an asterisk to it for playing a shorthanded, bad team, sure, but he took care of business and notched his seventh career triple-double.

Tyrese Maxey: 21 points, 1 rebound, 5 assists, 6-12 FG shooting

Maxey finally had his running mate back after some very good and some very bad moments without him. He got some tough shots to fall and got more experience with teams going with a bigger defender against him. Maxey wasn’t in any sort of takeover form but provided a fine performance.

Bulls player notes:

DeMar DeRozan: 16 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 5-10 FG shooting

DeRozan got the Bulls by in one piece (or at least not a million) early on by getting to the line and hitting some tough jumpers. As the lone paddle getting them through a creek made tougher by Embiid, he did fine but was obviously outmatched.

Game recap:

1st half

The Sixers made it through a four-game road trip without Joel Embiid, who spent his holidays recovering from an ankle sprain. He returned to the lineup with no minutes restriction as he looked to prevent Chicago from sweeping Philly in the season series. Nicolas Batum still had a restriction while Kelly Oubre Jr. was bumped to the starting lineup in lieu of the injured De'Anthony Melton.

The Bulls, just as they did on Saturday, faced the Sixers without Zach LaVine or Nikola Vucevic, sending former Sixer Andre Drummond and future Sixer? Alex Caruso to the starting lineup.

Embiid got right back to work, stripping Drummond on a shot attempt on the first play and then setting up a pull-up middie for Oubre. The big man was also whistled for a defensive three-second call. Although Maxey found himself in foul trouble early, it was a very nice start for Philly, as some energetic activity from Oubre and four tripled led to a 12-point lead after four and a half minutes. The Sixers got very hot from deep and pushed the lead up to 25 four more minutes later.

Danuel House Jr. and Jaden Springer made first-quarter appearances with Robert Covington also out, leaving the Sixers in need of some more depth. The two linked up for a dunk after Springer poked a rebound away from Drummond and House made the timely cut down the paint. The score after the first quarter was 43-18 in Philly's favor. DeRozan had 10 of Chicago's points.

Springer picked up a pair of fouls but looked very good on defense, sliding his feet well at the point of attack and recording a chase-down block. He was still a bit choppy of offense, as was the second unit overall, settling for contested jumpers that did not have a high success rate. The sizable lead stayed sizable, though, despite Coby White becoming the second Bull to obtain a pulse on offense in this game.

Embiid ripped off some more mid-range buckets like they were layups. Oubre continued to make plays on defense by rotating hard to shooters and hitting his threes. Even as the shooting started to stabilize back to the mean for both teams, the Sixers maintained a heavy advantage.

The Sixers led 73-42 at the half.

2nd half

Embiid was whistled for his fourth foul of the game on a charge. Nick Nurse challenged it but was unsuccessful, leaving the big man with four fouls. With the lead like the Sixers had, Embiid was already on course to rest the entire fourth quarter. Still, the foul trouble made it more imperative that he did.

Drummond bricking an open dunk helped Embiid's cause, as did some buckets from Maxey. The Sixers played a lot like a team nursing a major lead. They didn’t jeopardize the monstrous advantage, though, as the Bulls' halfcourt offense was still suspect. Philly's pretty much sank to their level minus the tough shot-making and Embiid getting to the charity stripe.

As the quarter wound down, Embiid imposed his size down low and scored at will. Before checking out with the Sixers still possessing a gigantic lead, he notched his second triple-double of the season by feeding Tobias Harris on the fast break. He also continued his 30-point-1o-rebound-game streak, bumping it up to 14. He became the third Sixer ever to post 30-15-10.

The fourth quarter was Maxey's time to show Dalen Terry, who the Bulls put on him to out-muscle him, how tough he can be to contain. The early goings of the period also feature a tough and-one finish from House and a one-handed offensive board from Springer that led to a putback layup. Shortly thereafter, both teams started going deeper into their benches.

Nurse went with a super-big lineup of Springer-House-K.J. Martin-Paul Reed-Mo Bamba before subbing in Ricky Council IV for his NBA debut with six minutes left. Kenneth Lofton Jr. checked in a few minutes later for his first game as a Sixer.

Random rumblings:

  • PatBev may talk trash to a lot of guys but he's also got plenty of appreciation for them, too. He named Caruso to his “All-Dawg” team alongside guys like Embiid and Draymond Green.

The Sixers will take on the new-look New York Knicks on Friday.